On this day in 1661, the Treaty of the Hague (one of at least ten ‘Treaties of the Hague that I could find) was signed between Holland and Portugal with Holland ceding ‘New Holland’ (now Brazil) to the Portuguese in exchange for 8 million Guilders and ceding the colonies of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and the Maluku Islands (part of present-day Indonesia) to the Dutch.
Between 1657 and 1661, Dutch fleets, besides operating in the Second Northern War, regularly cruised before the Portuguese coast. Portuguese privateers also did considerable harm to Dutch West African and American shipping, but the blockades of the Portuguese coast crippled Portuguese maritime trade, while the VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, which translates to United East India Company in English) finished its conquest of Ceylon and the Malabar Coast in India at the same time.
slightly edited and redacted…
Today is the birthday, in 1972, of Geri Halliwell, (Ginger Spice), vocals, the Spice Girls who scored the 1996 UK No.1 & 1997 US No.1 single ‘Wannabe’, plus seven other No.1 singles. She left the group on 7th June 1998 and her first UK solo No.1 single was 1999 ‘Mi Chico Latino’. Halliwell has scored more UK No.1’s than any other female artist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgoKfHg1JsU
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